


Burdens

by xpiester333x



Category: One Piece
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-11-11
Updated: 2014-11-11
Packaged: 2018-02-24 23:30:15
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 534
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2600354
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/xpiester333x/pseuds/xpiester333x
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Zoro contemplates the weight of the burdens he's chosen to carry and wonders if it's really worth it.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Burdens

**Author's Note:**

> Just a short piece I wrote in honor of my favorite swordsman for his birthday <3 truthfully I could never poor enough love for Zoro into one fic, and I'm certain I didn't do him the justice he deserves but I tried!

Zoro makes his promise in tears to a white katana and a man who means as much to him as family. He makes his promise to her memory. It’s the same promise they shared, but now he has to carry it alone. She was gone, but he still vows to carry out his promise. It’s for himself, and for those she left behind.

He makes his promise to the boy in the straw hat, who’s silly and reckless but who Zoro finds himself inexplicably drawn to. He makes his promise covered in blood and in more pain than he’s ever experienced before, while bitter tears run down his face. His pain is that of failure and humility but it’s pain he knows will change the shape of his life. It will make him stronger, and he will never forget.

His promise grows to include a girl whose greed will never let him out of debt, but whose heart is bigger than anyone’s. It includes a storyteller whose bravery could rival Zoro’s own and a pervert cook who knows the value of life and comes closest to understanding the weight of other people’s dreams. When they enter the Grand Line, he finds his promise extending to a little reindeer whose love exceeds the stuff of both monsters and men.

He meets an archaeologist whose past will no longer define her future and he’s surprised when he learns just how much he’ll put up with for the sake of others.

 He makes his silent promise to the cyborg who is generous and forgiving even when it would be wiser to turn a blind eye, and when the time comes he doesn’t hesitate to extend it to the skeleton whose loyalty is greater even than death.

Before he knows it, it’s not just his dream anymore, it’s theirs too. Every move he makes, he makes for them and if he should fail, he’ll be failing them. His crew. His nakama. His promise has grown to include theirs. The burden is heavy.

“Oi.” A dress shoe taps against his boot in passing. “It’s time for dinner, shithead.”

He stares up at the sky, a fading blue smattered with the first stars of night. He listens to the others gather, the sounds of their voices ebbing and flowing like waves against the shore. He hears the cries for meat and a heroic voice spinning the beginnings of and epic tale.

He wants to see them all achieve their dreams. They are as important to him as his own, and he wants to help them come true. It’s too much to ask of one person. The promise he made to her and the promises he’s made to them, the idea of it threatens to crush him under the weight. Was it worth it to carry so much baggage? Was it worth it to take in their dreams alongside his?

“Zoro!” Luffy calls. “Sanji says we can’t eat until you come to dinner! Hurry up!”

Zoro feels a smile on his face as he gets up and plods towards the galley. Luffy bounces eagerly, listing off the menu to Zoro as he approaches.

The answer is simple: it’s absolutely worth it.


End file.
